Review of ICANN Regions

Introduction

One of the core values underlying ICANN's structure and
operations is support for broad and informed participation reflecting the
geographic diversity of the Internet at all levels of policy development and
decision making. This support is implemented by numerous requirements for
geographic diversity reflected in ICANN's bylaws, in the operating procedures
of ICANN entities and in its culture. These requirements are framed in terms
of Geographic Regions, as provided in Article VI, Section 5 of the
bylaws:

Section 5. INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION

...As used in these Bylaws, each of the following is considered to
be a "Geographic Region": Europe; Asia/Australia/Pacific; Latin
America/Caribbean islands; Africa; and North America. The specific countries
included in each Geographic Region shall be determined by the Board, and this
Section shall be reviewed by the Board from time to time (but at least every
three years) to determine whether any change is appropriate, taking account of
the evolution of the Internet.

As more than three years have passed since the 2003 review was completed, the Board will review
the definition of the ICANN's geographic regions and the methodology for allocating specific countries and territories to particular regions.

The GAC
recommended that ICANN make reference to existing international norms for
regional distribution of countries. After this recommendation and comments
made at the ICANN Public Forum on 15 July 2000, the Board discussed the
appropriate means for allocating countries and territories to the ICANN
Geographic Regions. In the discussion, the Board
expressed concern about itself deciding how to allocate countries to
Regions, but noted that it was necessary to do so and that it was best to refer
to some independently prepared and authoritative list for this purpose. The
ICANN staff proposed use of the February 2000 version of two lists prepared by
the United Nations Statistics Division, and also recommended (based on GAC
comment) that dependent territories be grouped together with the country of
citizenship for the territory. Thus, a resident of New Caledonia (overseas territory of France located in the Pacific Ocean) would be grouped with Europe rather than
Asia/Australia/Pacific.

The Board adopted the following
resolution:

Whereas, Article
V, Sec. 6, of the ICANN Bylaws calls upon the Board to determine a specific
allocation of countries among five general geographic regions (Europe;
Asia/Australia/Pacific; Latin America/Caribbean islands; Africa; North
America); and

Whereas, this year's At Large
membership elections will entail the selection of one Director from each of
ICANN's five geographic regions; and

Whereas, the Governmental
Advisory Committee, upon the ICANN staff's request for advice, recommended
that "With regard to the definition of ICANN's Geographic Regions, ICANN
should make reference to existing international norms for regional distribution
of countries," it is

Resolved
[00.64] that the staff is directed to assign countries to geographic regions on
the basis of the United Nations Statistics Division's current classifications of
"Countries or areas, codes and abbreviations," as revised 16 February
2000, and "Composition of macro geographic (continental) regions and
component geographical regions," as revised 16 February 2000.

The above methodology —
employing the lists prepared by the United Nations Statistics Division and
recognizing the grouping of dependencies with their mother countries — was
then implemented.

In June 2003, the Board reaffirmed this methodology.

Issues relating to the Review of ICANN Regions

The allocation methodology adopted
by the Board in July 2000 and reaffirmed in 2003, has worked without
significant problems. The 2002 ICANN reforms, which emphasized the importance
of ensuring geographic and other types of diversity within ICANN, make the
definition of the Geographic Regions relevant not only for the membership of
the Board, but also for the GNSO Council , the ALAC and the ccNSO.

At the time of the two previous
reviews conducted of the ICANN Regions, the ccNSO did not exist. The ccNSO
discussed the relevance of the ICANN Regions at its members meeting in Marrakesh and
more recently released a background
paper and questionnaire on the matter. Concerns raised by the ccNSO
include disproportionate representation on the ccNSO Council and dependent
territories being located in an ICANN region associated with country or
citizenship, which in some cases leads to a ccTLD being in an ICANN region
which is removed from its geographic location.

Public comments invited

Comments are invited relating to ICANN's Review of Regions with the goal of setting out a formal process in São Paulo. Comments may be submitted by email to geo-regions-comments@icann.org.

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